WASHINGTON (November 12, 2025) – For over three months, the U.S. military has been carrying out strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. The Trump administration has dubbed these as operations against “narco-terrorists,” particularly the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Legal scholars are questioning whether the president has the authority to order such strikes without congressional approval.
Laura A. Dickinson, Lyle T. Alverson Professor of Law at the George Washington University, can speak to the legality of these operations. Dickinson is a leading scholar on national security, the law of armed conflict, and executive war powers. She served as Special Counsel to the General Counsel of the Department of Defense and was awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service.
Dickinson has expressed “really serious concerns about the legality of the strikes” under domestic and international law. She said, “The legal basis requires a showing of an imminent armed attack on the US and they’ve not shown that.”
If you would like to schedule an interview with Professor Dickinson, please contact Senior Media Relations Specialist Claire Sabin at claire [dot] sabin
gwu [dot] edu (claire[dot]sabin[at]gwu[dot]edu).
-GW-